


Something's Missing

by abovethebridge



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-30
Updated: 2012-08-30
Packaged: 2017-11-13 04:50:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/499673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abovethebridge/pseuds/abovethebridge
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What should have happened when Amy found the ring box in the TARDIS at the end of "The Lodger"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something's Missing

“So... Who's Rory?” Asked Amy, skipping around the TARDIS console to get to the Doctor.

“Um...” Said the Doctor, hesitating before saying softly, “Rory? Oh, _Rory_. Rory was... A friend.” He turned away and Amy knew, rather instinctively that something was wrong, something had happened that shouldn't have. So, dropping all signs of cheerfulness she asked,

“What happened to him, Doctor?”

Although he had tried to cover it, Amy still saw him flinch as if he'd only lost this _'Rory'_ a few days ago, which Amy knew couldn't be true, she'd been travelling with the Doctor much longer than that. But, even so, she still felt that she should know this _'Rory'_ , his name sounded familiar, it rolled off her tongue as if she'd said and heard it many times but she couldn't, for the life of her, put the name to a face.

“He...” The Doctor was struggling on what to do in this particular situation. He was thinking to himself, wondering whether, if he remained really vague on the subject then maybe she'd understand and wouldn't press any further. “He was... He was killed.”

Amy didn't know why the Doctor was so obviously avoiding her questions, she could see that he was uncomfortable talking to her about this mysterious stranger, but she wasn't going to let it go this time. She decided to go for the blunt approach.

“You're uncomfortable talking about him. Why?”

Now he was really lost for words, a sensation he wasn't altogether familiar with, never having experienced it in this particular incarnation. What could he say to her now? That she was supposed to get married to Rory tomorrow but he was shot by a member of the homo reptilia and absorbed into the crack so he never existed?

“Because you don't know him” The Doctor replied, finally. Although, all the while he was thinking, _but you did_.

“Why does that matter? And anyway, did this _'Rory'_ look anything like Vincent Van Gogh?”

Although most of this conversation had been painful, this last question from Amy along with her first were by far the ones that caused the most hurt. They seemed to be brandishing in his face the fact that Amy didn't even recognise the name of her husband-to-be or have the faintest inkling of what he looked like.

“No, he didn't look anything like Vincent.” He muttered.

Amy could see the pain and sadness in the Doctor's eyes, but there was something else in them that the Doctor had experienced more of than any other person. Guilt.

Why was he felling guilty about _'Rory's'_ death? What had happened that had caused the Doctor to blame himself for this _Rory's_ death?

“If he doesn't look at all like Vincent, why did you call him Rory?”

“I... I don't know. Probably habit or something. Look can we not talk about this now? How-”  
“Why do you blame yourself for his death?” Amy cut across him because she knew that once the Doctor changes the subject you can never return to your topic again.

Once more the Doctor hesitated before deciding to tell Amy the truth as far as he could, that's what Rory would have wanted.

Suddenly Rory's words came flooding back to him, words he'd passed onto the Doctor after Venice.

X X X X X

“Look. I can see how dangerous life is here so I want you to promise me something. Promise that if something happens to me, you'll look after Amy and you'll do _anything_ to keep her safe.”

“Nothing's going to happen to you while I'm around.”

“Just promise.”

“Fine. Promise.”

“Good.”

X X X X X

Then his brain brought him back to the present moment and he found Amy staring at him, anticipating an answer.

“It was my fault. If I hadn't been so... So damn curious he'd never have felt obliged to push me out of the way and take that blasted shot for me. We would've been back in the TARDIS and my promise about no one dying that day would have been fulfilled!”

It occurred, then, to Amy that it seemed as if something was missing from her recent trip down to the centre of the earth. She could remember everything that happened, debating the future of planet earth with the homo reptilia and almost being killed and the Doctor putting his hand into the crack she'd first seen in the wall of her bedroom when she was just seven years old. But she still felt as though something was missing. Something or someone was hovering just outside the boundaries of her memory.

She was jerked from her reverie when she spotted a small, red velvet, ring box. Intrigued she picked it up, unseen by the Doctor who had gone back to tinkering with the TARDIS trying to avoid any more uncomfortable questions. Gently she prised the lid open, revealing its cream-coloured interior upon which sat a beautiful diamond engagement ring.

Slowly and gingerly, Amy reached out to pick the ring up. When she touched the ring, almost immediately Amy felt, saw and heard a whole new surge of memories.

X X X X X

Amy and a strange man standing on a hill waving, the same man lying on the ground, breathing his final breaths, a much younger boy, but still undeniable the same as before wearing a huge dress shirt with rips in it and torn trousers that were trailing along the floor.

X X X X X

Amy caught hold of the edge of the TARDIS console to keep herself upright and whispered, “Rory...”

The Doctor, equipped with his phenomenal Time Lord hearing spun around and saw Amy on the verge of collapse, panicked. Rory's words were once more ringing in his ears as he rushed over to her.

“Amy. Amy. Amy, are you all right?” He asked, wondering what on Gallifrey had caused Amy to look as if she'd seen a ghost. She'd even whispered Rory's name even though she didn't know who he was or how significant a figure he was in her life. His eyes caught sight of something red and they automatically focused on the ring box containing Amy's engagement ring. The ring was still in tact but Amy had her thumb touching it and the Doctor began to reconsider whether it really was impossible for Amy to ever remember Rory.

Amy stood there, leaning against the TARDIS console. She had heard the Doctor say something to her but she was unable to comprehend the words he was speaking through the torrent of memories flooding her mind. Everything about her life so far was changing, albeit only slightly, but was changing nonetheless to include a man who meant more than anything to Amy. Rory.

Once again the Doctor wondered whether the ring box meant that Rory was still alive, somewhere. Surely if he had been fully absorbed by the crack then everything, including the ring, would have never entered the TARDIS and there would have been no chance in the whole of the universe that Amy would ever remember Rory. Yet here they were, the engagement ring given to Amy by Rory in front of his eyes and Amy acting as if her whole life story was being re-written.

A few minutes later Amy had managed to become capable of speech once more and gasped, “Doctor, Rory, why couldn't I remember?” Tears began to fill her eyes and the Doctor quickly approached her and enveloped her in a hug as the sobs racked through her body, the grief of losing her fiancé resurfacing and said, “It was the crack Amy, the crack. The one from your bedroom wall. I know you won't want to get any false hope but I believe there might be a way that Rory could be alive.”

Amy choked and said, “Alive? But he got shot by the silurians and then absorbed by the crack!”

“Yes, but if you think about it, when a person is absorbed by the crack _everything_ from their existence becomes extinct, but your engagement ring didn't. And if he was dead and fully absorbed by the crack there would've been no chance in the universe that you'd be able to remember him.”

Having managed to bring her tears under control Amy looked up giving the Doctor a watery smile, seemingly content for the moment to believe that the Doctor would do whatever he could to find her fiancé.


End file.
